Tilting Motor Works was founded by Bob Mighell in 2005 and is located in Stanwood, WA, USA.

BACKGROUND

Tilting Motor Works began with the idea of creating a faster, safer and more stable motorcycle.  I wanted to design and build a vehicle that would outperform both motorcycles and cars.  The known drawback to motorcycles is that if the front tire loses traction the bike will go down.  With two wheels up front, you have greatly increased your front end traction.  You have also greatly increased the braking power and cornering capability.  I also wanted to lower the center of gravity of the vehicle as compared to a motorcycle by dropping the rider down and behind the engine.  I have also moved the gas tank beneath the seat which is being done on some current model high performance bikes.  Lowering the center of gravity allows quicker flicking between corners and increases stability.  The one thing about cornering in performance cars such as my Porsche 911 is that the driver is always thrown toward the outside of the corner.  I much prefer the cornering feeling of a motorcycle where you are being pushed down into your seat as you go into a corner hard. 

The concept of a tilting three wheeler has been around for many years and several attempts have been made to produce such vehicles but none have appeared to have been too successful.   My first decision was whether to go with two wheels in front or with two wheels in the rear.  Having two wheels in the rear does nothing to improve the stability of the vehicle and despite the current market of three wheeled Gold Wings, no one advertises them as performance vehicles.  The stability is so poor with the one forward wheel and two rear wheel design that major motorcycle manufactures stopped production of the three wheeled ATV in 1987 after a lawsuit by the United States Justice Department alleged that the manufacturers were in violation of the Consumer Product Safety Act.  My decision to go with two wheels up front was fairly easy.  

The next decision was to decide how many wheels I wanted to have tilt.  I decided to go with all wheels tilting to obtain the maximum benefit of the tilting concept.

The final decision was how to control of the vehicle.  I wanted to keep the design as simple as possible to keep production costs down and reduce any system complexity.  There were two options for the leaning.  One is to have the vehicle free lean such as a motorcycle or a forced lean system which uses hydraulics or servos.  There have been designs such as the Mercedes Benz LifeJet concept that used a forced system that leans the vehicle as you turn the steering wheel but limited the lean to 30 degrees whereas an ideal would be up to 45 degrees.  The advantage of the forced lean system is that the steering input would be similar to an automobiles where you turn to the right to go right.  The free leaning system would steer like a motorcycle or a bicycle which uses countersteering.  I decided to go with a free leaning control system to more simulate a motorcycle's handling characteristics and is far simpler in design.  Some may argue that it is more difficult to handle but I would counter that I was able to teach my 5 year old son to ride a bicycle without having to explain handling dynamics.  Actually, I have come to realize that very few people actually understand how a motorcycle handles and yet that doesn't stop them from safely riding them.  People intuitively lean into corners.  Just look at someone running in a circle and observe what they do.

The first prototype was built out of Lego in the summer of 2002. ( A note of thanks to my sons Bryce, John & Kennan for donating the needed Lego and their assistance in building.)

The second prototype was built in the fall of 2002 on the frame of a 1978 Honda XL100 to better test the concept of the linkages.

The third prototype was built using the frame of a 1985 Honda 250 Rebel.  The project was started in the fall of 2003 and was finished in the spring of 2005.

The lastest production prototype was finished in September 2007 and was built on a Yamaha V-Max frame. 

Bob Mighell's Brief Bio

Bob Mighell was born and raised in the Seattle area.  He attended Dartmouth College where he earned both an undergraduate liberal arts degree and a degree in engineering.  He has been happily married to Cathy for about 20 years and is the proud father of three teenage sons. The first company he started in the mid '80's was Edge Snowboards with his own design of snowboards and releasable bindings.  He then went back to the University of Washington where he earned his Masters in Business Administration.  He has held positions as Head of Research and Developement for a waterski company as well as design and manufacturing engineering positions for a variety of medical equipment companies.  After serving as General Manager of one medical company and then President of another medical equipment company, he and his wife Cathy now own World Medical Equipment (www.worldmedicalequip.com) which specializes in refurbished operating room equipment.

Bob has been riding motorcycles for over 30 years and his interest in tilting three wheeled vehicles began as a dream of building a better vehicle.

If you have any interest in getting involved in the further development and production of tilting three wheeled vehicles, please contact Bob at bob@tiltingmotorworks.com.  We welcome any and all comments.